CRAIG Fort has paid tribute to the strength in depth of Nelson Golf Club after they retained the ELGA Championship on Saturday.

Fort's gross score of 70 inspired his side to victory in the Scratch Shield at Darwen, as he and team-mates Jonathan Whalley, Nick Uttley and Daniel Nutter won a tense encounter after a card play-off.

The host club and Burnley were the two clubs to miss out as they matched Nelson's overall score of 296, but fell short of the holders' back nine total, which was used to separate the sides.

Fort said: "It shows what a good squad we've got at our place.

"We've got six or seven people who could have played in that event so we were quite confident we were going to do well.

"It's difficult because you have no idea what is going on around the course, even when Nick Uttley went out last he wouldn't know anybody's finishing scores.

"But I've played in this for a few years now and you get a feel for what is going to be somewhere near good enough.

"It's easy to drop a few shots and get a bit disappointed because you think you are letting the teams down but we managed to all stay focused on our games."

Nutter and Uttley both shot 75 and a 76 from Whalley meant Fort's round was vital to the cause.

However, even he seemed to be shooting for the mid-70s as he made a disastrous start to his individual round.

Fort said: "I set off with bogey and bogey in the first two but I knuckled down and pulled it back to one under by the end of the front nine.

"The back nine is a lot harder at Darwen so once I'd got back to one under it was a case of hanging in there, and I stayed one over.

"I didn't do anything spectacular, I had four birdies and three bogeys so managed to keep my score together."

Fort's efforts weren't enough to complete a double double, however, as he missed out on also retaining the Scratch Medal prize for the best individual gross score.

Andy Samuels took this trophy off him with a superb 68, somewhat easing the disappointment of his Burnley team missing out in the card play-off by two shots.

Darwen were even closer, being just one short of Nelson's 150 on the back nine, but they also had the consolation of taking the President's Trophy.

The team of Duckworth, Chadwick, Grimshaw and Philipson posted the best net score of the competition with 283.

ELGA officials hailed the event a success, as it was played out under sunny skies and involved 92 players from 23 clubs.